OTTAWA - Swimming Canada announced today the names of the five recipients of the domestic coaching mentorship bursary for 2010 - a new initiative that was introduced in November 2009.

Coaches Brad Dingey and Annie Wolfe of the Pacific Sea Wolves will be paired with Randy Bennett coach of Olympic Bronze medalist Ryan Cochrane and head coach at the Victoria Academy of Swimming; Kevin Anderson of the University of Calgary Swim Club will work with mentor Benoit Lebrun, Head Coach of the Montreal National Centre, and Abderrahamane Tissira of Équipe de Natation Élite of Longueuil will join Tom Johnson, Head coach of the National Swimming Centre and Coach of World Champion Brent Hayden.

Also going to the Vancouver Centre is Jason Chugh of the Edmonton Keyano Swim Club, who will get the opportunity to work with Jozsef Nagy, coach of World Record Holder Annamay Pierse, and Chris Stone of the Wolfville Tritons Swim Club will receive mentorship from both Johnson and Nagy.

Brad and Annie, who are Head Coach and Assistant Head Coach, respectively, at Pacific Sea Wolves in White Rock, are very pleased to have this opportunity, with Brad adding, "We hope that we are able to really impact those currently in the program, and those who will enter at some point.

"We are very appreciative of Swimming Canada for implementing and offering this program, as well as Coach Randy Bennett who will be helping us out."

This development program recognizes the considerable value of the mentoring process in facilitating a coach’s development and offers young coaches to work side-by-side Canada’s top international coaches.

“Developing great coaches is an important part to being a successful swimming nation,” said Pierre Lafontaine, CEO and National Coach for Swimming Canada. “Our mentorship program allows the next wave of coaches to learn from our best coaches, and by developing a strong base of coaches in Canada, we will produce a greater depth in our program.”